Gen. John B. King
Gen. John B. King (deceased), son of William King, whose sketch appears above, was born in Blandford, Mass., March 30, 1807, and was about four years of age when his father settled in this county. During his youth he attended the public schools of Ravenna and there laid the foundation of a good education. Subsequently he took a classical course in the Western Reserve College. He entertained a desire to become a lawyer, and for some time he was engaged in the study of that profession at Ravenna, though never admitted to the bar. When twenty-three years of age, February 7, 1830, Mr. King was married to Miss Caroline M. Selby, a native of Palmyra, N. Y., and a daughter of Judge Ira Selby, from that State. Judge Selby at this time kept the Globe Hotel at Raveuna, and as Gen. King and his young wife's parents were both hotel-keepers, it was that business our subject adopted, and he soon after became proprietor of the Exchange Hotel, which he carried on for six or seven years. He then purchased a farm adjoining the village of Ravenna and followed agricviltural pursuits, buying and selling stock in connection the remainder of his life. Gen. King was a Democrat in politics, and he took an active part in all public affairs. He served the township in some local offices, and was always an earnest advocate and supporter of the educational interests of the county. In religious convictions he was a Universalist, and he assisted largely in the organization of the society in Ravenna, contributing liberally toward it, and furnishing most of the timber used in erecting the present church building at Ravenna. On the construction of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad he was one of the incorporators, a large stockholder and a Director. In his younger days he was an enthusiastic member of the State militia, serving in the ranks, and rose subsequently through every official grade to that of Major-General. During the civil war, at the time of Morgan's raid, he organized a company of volunteers called the "Squirrel Hunters," which went to Cincinnati, Ohio, but the emergency having passed over they were disbanded and returned home. This company was made up of men of over forty-five years of age, and each of them received a lithographed "Squirrel Hunter's" discharge, embellished with the portrait and characteristic autograph of His Excellency, Gov. Tod, one of which is now in possession of J. D. King. His first wife dying in 1852, Mr. King was married the second time, September .18, 1855, to Phebe Warner, daughter of Judge Jonathan Warner, of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, who bore him one child — Flora L. Gen. John B. King died April 2, 1864, leaving seven children in all: William L., Ira S., Joseph D., Henrietta L. (now Mrs. Clinton C. Canfield, of Cleveland, Ohio), Frances B., John B. and Flora L. The widow now resides in Cleveland.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885